Diamond Paints, Army Remounts and Sabeeha Anees conjured up contrasting wins in the prestigious National Open Polo Championship 2016 for Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup matches played here at the Lahore Polo Club (LPC) grounds on Wednesday.
In the first match of the day, Saqib Khan Khakwani steered Diamond Paints to an inspiring 9-6 victory over struggling Master Paints/Habib Metro. Saqib was start of the match with his sterling six-goal tally while he was ably assisted by his team mate Santiago Cernadas who struck tremendous three. For the losing side, Pedro Guiterrez was in sublime form and slammed fabulous five but he couldn't save his team blushes through his heroics. Hissam Ali Hyder also contributed one for the losers.
The first chukker was led by Diamond Paints who struck twice through Santiago while Hissam hit one to finish the chukker at 2-1. The second chukker saw dominance of Diamond Paints as this time, it was Saqib who played outstandingly and scored a hat-trick while Santiago converted one to give their team 6-1 lead which was reduced to 6-2 by Pedro through a field goal.
Master Paints/Habib Metro staged a comeback in the third chukker by striking two back-to-back goals to make it 6-4 but Saqib once again converted a superb goal to enhance his team's lead to 7-4 before the end of the chukker. The fourth and fifth chukker saw both Saqib and Pedro playing superbly for their teams and managed to hammer two goals each to finish the match at 9-6.
The second match of the day between Master Paints and Army Remounts was the most entertaining and thrilling encounter of the day. Both the teams played out their hearts and fought for each and every point but at the end, Army Remounts hit a match-winning goal in the sudden death chukker to defeat Master Paints 9-8.
George Meyrick was main warrior for the winners as he hammered fantastic four while Major General Isfandiyar Pataudi and Major Haseeb Minhas contributed two goals and Major Omer Minhas added one. For the losing side, Juan Cruz Losada hammered sterling five and Hamza Mawaz Khan thwarted three but their heroics couldn't save their team from the loss.
Major Haseeb Minhas started the first chukker with his field goal for Army Remounts but Hamza slammed a field goal to level the score at 1-1. Just before the end of the chukker, George struck a field goal to finish the match having 2-1 lead.
Army Remounts dominating the second chukker fully thrashing marvellous four goals to take 6-1 lead. George, Major Omer, Major General Pataudi and Major Haseeb struck one goal apiece. It was one-man show in the third chukker where high-flying Losada produced a tremendous hat-trick for Dollar East to reduce the lead to 6-4.
The fourth chukker was also dominated by Dollar East as they converted three goals while Army collected one. Hamza struck twice for his team and Losada once to make it 7-6 while George hit one for Army to finish the chukker at 7-7.
One goal each was scored in the fifth and final chukker as George got one for Army and Losada earned one for Dollar East to finish the chukker at 8-8. The match entered the sudden death chukker, where Major General Isfandiyar Pataudi smashed a field goal to provide Army Remount well-deserving 9-8 triumph.
In the third and last thrilling match of the day, Pedro Zacharias guided Sabeeha Anees to hard-fought 11-10 win over Learning Alliance. The match was draw at 10-10 after the fifth chukker, and in the sudden death chukker, Pedro continued his sublime form and hammered a decisive goal for the winners.
Marvellous maillot and horse work was witnessed in Pedro Zacharias who single-handedly powered Sabeeha Anees to tremendous triumph thrashing all the 11 goals. For the losing side, Max Charlton contributed six goals, Usman Haye two and Ahmed Ali Tiwana and Adnan Jalil Azam one goal apiece.
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